For years, environmentalists have criticized Republicans in Congress for ignoring environmental demands and now, some top House members have found a way of retaliating against these environmental groups.

Two top GOP members of the House Natural Resources Committee have opened probes into three high-profile U.S. environmental groups working on issues abroad. The Republican congressmen want to know whether during their advocacy work the groups have acted as agents of foreign governments and therefore violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Joshua Rosenstein, partner of the firm, argues that these environmental groups have not violated FARA.

“Merely agreeing with the policy position of a foreign government, as many environmental groups end up doing, does not mean an organization needs to register with the Justice Department,” Rosenstein said.

“Just having overlapping issues with some third party,” Rosenstein said, “does not mean you’re acting as an agent for that third party.”